Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has donated a personal property in Yola to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to serve as the party’s Adamawa State secretariat.
The announcement came alongside a significant statement in which he criticised Nigeria’s electoral process and called for major reforms to end what he termed the “judicial selection of leaders.”
The donated building, located near the Mubi Roundabout in Jimeta, was previously used as the state secretariat for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Its handover to the ADC is seen as a concrete step by Atiku, a key figure in the party, to strengthen its presence in the state.
This follows his recent departure from the PDP, a move that was also made by several of his prominent associates, including former APC governorship candidate Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) and former Governor Senator Jibrilla Bindow.
Alongside the donation, Atiku released a detailed statement arguing that the current enthusiasm for voter registration would be pointless without deep changes to how elections are run and judged. He pointed to the historically low voter turnout of 26.72% in the 2023 elections as evidence that citizens are losing faith in the democratic process.
He stated that far-reaching electoral and judicial reforms were urgently needed “to ensure electoral integrity, strengthen public confidence, and promote judicial independence.” Atiku expressed concern that power has shifted from the voters to the courts, referencing a book by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu titled ‘The Selectorate: When Judges Topple The People’.
“Judges, once constrained arbiters of electoral disputes, have become increasingly unconstrained in determining who holds power shifting legitimacy from voters to the courts,” Atiku stated. “In some cases, this influence has extended beyond the courtroom, creating a system where a small, connected elite decides leadership under the cover of legal process.”
To return power to the people, the former presidential candidate proposed a nine-point amendment to the 2022 Electoral Act. His central demand is for the mandatory use of technology at every stage, removing any discretion for manual processes by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His proposals include the mandatory use of BVAS for voter accreditation, the mandatory electronic transmission of results from polling units directly to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), and the collation of results at every level—ward, local government, state, and national—based solely on those electronically transmitted figures. “At no point shall manual accreditation of voters, transmission of results, and collation of results be allowed,” he insisted.
Furthermore, Atiku suggested making the positions of INEC Chairman and National and Resident Electoral Commissioners subject to a democratic voting process. He also proposed shifting the legal burden of proof in election petitions, requiring INEC to prove it substantially complied with the law in conducting the election, rather than forcing the petitioner to prove otherwise.
Umaru Jada, a national official of the ADC, welcomed the donation of the Yola property, stating it would provide the party with a “befitting work environment.” The move solidifies Atiku’s deepening ties with the ADC as the next electoral cycle approaches.
Discussion about this post